Our new "American Idol" is... DAVID COOK!!!!

Here we go - it's time for the results...

The judges say a bunch of nice things about them and I can't believe it - Simon is actually apologizing to David Cook his comments last night, saying it verged on disrespect. He says they both tried their best and for the first time ever, he doesn't really care who wins, because they've both done terrific.

Just seconds away now...

Our winner, by 12 millions votes, of "American Idol" is.... David Cook!!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Finally, America got it right - I hope his brother is in the audience to see him win!!!

And to my cousin, Christian, I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Until next season everyone...

George Michael, baby!!!

For the last time, the top 12 are performing. The top 6 girls, dressed in black, come out singing "Faith," and then the top 6 guys come out, in suits, to sing "Father Figure." Is George Michael coming out next? Can it be??? Not yet - they all sing "Freedom" next. Where is George Michael?! They can't possibly be singing a medley of his songs, without having him come out and sing himself. C'mon - I want to see George Michael!!!

YES!! here he comes!!! This is almost as good as when Prince performed!! I mean, who doesn't love George Michael?

He sings "Praying for Time" and he sounds just like he did 20 years ago when the whole world was in love with him, before his arrests, before the drama. He looks older, obviously, not as sexy as he once was, but I still think he's awesome. The past hour and a half has been totally worth it just to watch him perform - just wonderful.

I'm kind of in awe right now, maybe even a little speechless. I know many of you will think I'm gushing, or that he wasn't good, but I so love George Michael - this is about as close as I'll ever come to seeing him in concert and it's just amazing. I wish he had done one more song.

Wait!!! He's gong on tour! I cannot believe this - I'm so going to that show! Unbelievable!!

The Pips and Carrie Underwood

So it's true... I had that they were going to do like a spoof with Gladys Knight, having Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. pose as her Pips. I thought it was too stupid to be true, but here we are and that's exactly what's happening right now. I suppose it's funny because of its silliness, but really, it's just filler. the one good thing about it is that the money raised by the downloads of that video will go to charity.

Next up, of course, is Carrie Underwood. She's singing "Last Name." It's getting to the point where it's not a season of "Idol" without a Carrie Underwood performance. Not that I'm complaining - I think she's awesome. And she looks beautiful tonight.

I've been fast-forwarding through most commercials, but I just caught one with David Archuleta mimicking the "Risky Business" Tom Cruise scene, I guess advertising for Guitar Hero or something. It was cute.

One Republic and Jordin Sparks

Oh my goodness - does it get any worse than this? That guy who auditioned with his own song - the one who sang "You are my brother, best friends forever..." Remember him? Well they actually brought him to the stage - he's wearing the same outfit with the winged hat and everything - just beyond ridiculous. They even get USC's marching band to accompany him - seriously? Can I change the channel?? Please?

One Republic is up next, singing "Apologize." Finally, a song I can get into. I love this song. They must have known how stupid the last segment was - they had to make up for it. Well, they've got Archuleta singing along now. Where's David Cook? I'd like to see what he could do with this song. Huh - I guess it's just an Archuleta number. Very nice. I suppose it's only fair that he get a song by himself - David Cook had ZZ Top.

And now it's Jordin Spark, singing "One Step at a Time." I have to say, she's way more successful than I thought she would be. I thought she'd have maybe one big song and that would be it, but she's had a few hits already - perhaps it's just the beginning for her.

ZZ Top for the older crowd and Jonas Brothers for the kids

Next up is David Cook performing with ZZ Top, singing "Sharp Dressed Man." I don't know if David is a fan of theirs, but even if he's not, how cool to sing lead for such a famous band?

Brooke White comes out next to sing with Graham Nash. They perform "Teach Your Children." It's a good thing they started off well - can you imagine if she had stopped and asked to start again?

I have to be honest - we're about an hour in now and I'm starting to get bored by all these performances - I hope the next hour goes by fast - I just want the results.

Well, the next performance is clearly meant for the younger crowd. The Jonas Brothers come out and sing "S.O.S." I tried to get into it, I really did, but no, I'm no longer 12 and their appeal is lost on me.

In case we didn't get enough of the crappy auditions that went on for like a month at the beginning of the season, they are now playing a video of some of the worst auditions. Yawn... wake me up when it starts to get interesting.

Jimmy Kimmel and Bryan Adams

Jimmy Kimmel comes out and does a comedy thing. He's actually pretty funny. I'm usually waiting for him to be annoying, like his girlfriend, Sarah Silverman, but he did a good job.

The top 6 guys are next, singing "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams. I understand now why David Hernandez didn't quite make it to the end - he's awful and has shown no improvement since his ouster. Jason Castro had a minor slip-up (a little out of tune, OK... a lot out of tune) but there's need to dwell on that.

They have the Davids come down the steps, almost like royalty, to sing Bryan Adams' "Heaven," which can only mean that in moments, Bryan Adams will come out onstage, too, perhaps to plug a new song or album.

Yup, here he comes, to sing "I Thought I'd Seen Everything," and then "Somebody." I remember, way back in like, 1986, before Bryan Adams was really, really huge, my babysitter, Beth, was crazy in love with Bryan Adams and had actually met him at some local show. Who knew he'd end up being so big?

Donna Summer, Carly Smithson and Michael Johns

The top 6 girls, all dressed in beautiful red dresses are singing Donna Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money" and "Hot Stuff." Then some dancers come out and do some stuff and then Donna Summer herself comes out to sing her new song, "Stamp Your Feet."

Wow - I hate to be mean, but her hair looks awful - it's clearly a wig and doesn't look natural at all. She sounds good, though - better than past performers. I don't know about the song though. It's not really my cup of tea.

Yeah...after the new song, she goes back to one of her biggest hits, "Last Dance." What's with Syesha getting so much play? Why would they let her sing with Donna Summer?

Next up are Michael Johns and Carly Smithson singing, "The Letter." They sound terrific together - their voices blend perfectly. It's been so long, even her screaming doesn't bother me.

A bunch of filler... and JASON CASTRO!!!

Syesha Mercado is back, singing Seal's "Waiting for You," with Seal as a special guest. I'd like to say she did great, but it was really just mediocre - the difference between her and Seal was just so blatantly clear.

The best part of the show is coming up now - Jason Castro is back!!!! I've missed him these past couple of weeks - and he's back to perform "Hallelujah," arguably his best performance while on the show. Oh, he looks so good and sounds great! I wish he had stayed just a little bit longee - he was really the most interesting contestant this season.

Moving on, it's for the Ford commercial, set to "Let the Good Times Roll." They got some former contestants to take part - Kristy Lee Cook, Carly Smithson, Ramiele Malubay and Chikezie Eze were back - it's been a while since we've seen them.

Have they done this before? I can't remember - I'm sure they must have, but anyway, after they show the commercial, Ryan hands the Davids keys to their very own Ford Escape hybrids.

Probably paid advertising for "The Love Guru"

With no introduction, David Cook comes out singing "Hero," by Nickelback and is quickly joined by David Archuleta singing the harmony. Then in the second verse, they switch it up with Archuleta singing the melody and Cook the harmony. It's pretty good although Archuleta seems a bit out of place - this song is so not his style - it's totally a David Cook song, but still, it was nice to see them singing together.

Then, in an obvious plug, they show a video clip of scenes from "The Love Guru," and show the Davids at the theater, watching it and laughing. I think it looks ridiculously stupid, but that's just my opinion - I'm sure people will go out and watch it - I mean, millions watched Borat, right? Oh boy, this guru thing is going a lot longer than I thought - they actually have the Davids meet Mike Myers, dressed in character. He tells David Cook to lose the facial hair and makes some joke about how David Archuleta is prepubescent. There was some other stuff, but it was really dumb - the only funny part of the whole thing is when the guru tries to shave David Cook's face and puts a huge blob of shaving cream on his face - half of it falls off and David Archuleta quickly reaches out and catches it, which then gets David Cook laughing.

Geez - this is still going... Mike Myers shows up onstage dressed in character and tells Randy that he is his dog, tells Paula he loves her and tells Simon he loves him even more. I'm not sure I can take too much of this stupidity. He says the movie opens on June 20, andthankfully, this segment is now over.

Group song... and dance

It's the beginning of the end... in two hours, it will all be over and we will know the winner of this season's "American Idol." I, for one, cannot wait. It's been a long 4 months and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night's premiere of "So You Think You Can Dance."

So, let's get started. Ryan says that 97.5 million votes came in last night - that's incredible. He also says that one David received 56% of the votes, while the other received 44%.

They flash to the contestants' hometowns and it's amazing how many people have gathered to watch this finale.

YES!!! The top 12 are doing a group song with former contestants of "So You Think You Can Dance." They do "Get Ready" by the Temptations. It was OK - I was expecting a little more dance performance, but it was still enjoyable.

Battle of the Davids

So Ryan asks Randy what he wants to say before they announce the results and Randy says they've all done an amazing job, that they should be proud of themselves, that they are the three standing out 100,000 people they saw. Paula says they're all standing in a path of great things to come, and that life is about moments and if you're lucky enough, you create ones that will last forever and if you're really, really lucky, the world will watch. Simon says he likes the these three and if it's the final he's hoping for, they're going to have a real humdinger next week.


Here we go...

After 56 million votes, America has decided that the two people going head to head in the finale next week are:

David Archuleta and David Cook.

Syesha Mercado goes home.

David Cook's week

Last is David Cook and Ryan says that the interesting thing about David is that it wasn't his idea to audition for "Idol." David says that it wasn't. He says he went to Omaha to be moral support for his little brother, Andrew. He says a producer came up to interview Andrew and ten turned to him and he said he wasn't auditioning, to which the producer responded, "Well, now you are." Ryan then calls Andrew up to the stage with him and David and David continues the story. He says he answered the question the producer asked him and made some Mandy Moore comment, trying to be funny and the next thing he knows, he's got a golden ticket and he's heading to Hollywood.

So, we're heading to Blue Springs, Mo., now to see David's visit home. He visits the local Fox station, where tons of fans were waiting, even though it was raining. While at the station, he gives the local weather forecast, he heads to a radio station and ten goes downtown to give a little concert, where he is completely shocked by how many people turned out and he tells the audience that it's the coolest day of his life. He then heads to his old elementary school where he plans to surprise his old music teacher, Mrs. Gentry, to thank her for inspiring to get into music in the first place. They had a whole assembly gathered, so I doubt it was a real surprise, but it was still really sweet. Then he's in a parade, with a tremendous, and I mean tremendous turnout - he, too, looks close to tears. He then throws the first pitch at a baseball game and says that he's gotten to do everything he ever wanted to do in one day.

Next is a look at his journey through the season.

Looking at Syesha's week

Syesha Mercado is next...Ryan asks her what it was like to get the star treatment at home. She says it was amazing, that she didn't know there were that many people in Sarasota, Fla.

During her visit home, she makes an visit to Fox13's studios, then heads to Bradenton, Fla., wear she visits her old elementary school - the crowd is huge and one lady actually passes her a baby as she's walking, so she could take a picture with it... insane. At the school, Gwen Brown, the Manatee County Commissioner declares the day Syesha Mercado Day and Syesha too, is in tears. Then she heads to her actual home, where she visits with family. Her dad says that having Syesha be in the competition has given him a reason to stay clean, since he had struggled with drugs and alcohol. Then Syesha is part of some kind of parade on the way to her old high school, where the mayor of Sarasota, Lou Ann Palmer says nice things about her and then when the crowd starts chanting her name, she starts crying again, and the tears continue to flow on her limo ride away from the school.

Ryan then goes through her performances and shows a video of her journey through the season.

Closer look at David Archuleta's week

Well Ryan says they're getting right to the results, which makes no sense, because as soon as you say one person is safe, the bottom is immediately revealed. But anyway, he calls David Archuleta up first.

Instead of going through last night's performances, Ryan shows a video of David's visit back home to Murray, Utah. He makes an appearance on "Good Morning Utah" and has a bunch of cheerleaders rush at him to hug him, visits a radio station and shows up at the Gateway Mall. Of course, there were screaming girls at every stop and by the time he hits the mall, he's in tears, overwhelmed by everyone's support. He does say something kind of cute - on the limo ride to the high school, he's kind of talking about how many people showed up at the mall and he says, "Gosh, where did they park?" It cracks me up because it's something I would wonder about myself. Anyway, it looks the entire high school is there to support him and Yosemite Sam (the mayor) announces that May 9, 2008 is David Archuleta Day.

OK, so now Ryan goes through last night's performances and asks David what the biggest obstacle was for him. David says learning three songs was a lot with visiting home and everything, but it was fun and it was all worth it once he got on stage. And since he competition is so close, they're showing the video if David's journey through the season now - I'm assuming they'll do it for all the contestants.

Fantasia performs on "Idol"... again

The group song tonight is to "Ain't No Stopping Us Now." It's OK - they're actually blending real well together, so it sounds nice.

But let's rewind a moment - did Ryan really say Fantasia is going to be singing live? Ugh... why do they keep forcing us to listen to her? It's very possible I may fast forward past her - I hope you all understand - I think her voice is terrible.

The Ford commercial tonight is set to "Heaven" and it shows the contestants visiting a fortune teller, where they envision themselves living lavish lives, with mansions and cars (Fords, of course.) It was OK, but this season's have not been as good as last season's - it's like they've lost their originality a little bit, but they're still entertaining for 30 or 45 seconds or so.

Well, Fantasia is singing now, a song called "Bore Me," and even though I really don't like her voice, I can admit that it's quite a catchy tune and her fans probably loved it. Her performance was really energetic and she moved around the stage a lot. It was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Brooke White goes home

OK - back to the results.

Syesha and Brooke are back on the stage ... And after more than 45 million votes, it is Brooke White who goes home. Syesha is safe another week.

I almost feel bad for Brooke -- she's hysterical crying, almost immediately. It was her time to go, though. She actually got a lot further than I thought she would at the beginning of the season. I can't believe they're making her sing when she can't stop crying. Not nice at all. Well, only three weeks to go ... Can't wait to see who takes the prize.

Neil Diamond performs

The Ford commercial this week is set to "Catch the Wind" and it has an environmental message, about cleaning up the Earth -- it was OK.

Neil Diamond is singing "Pretty Amazing Grace," a song off his new album, "Home Before Dark." I really like Diamond's speaking voice and his singing voice is nice, too. It's deep, but soothing. The song is acually very nice -- kind of soft, but with a tinge of rock in it. Very nice -- who knew I'd like Neil Diamond??

Ryan mentions that there is a special guest in the audience and it turns out to be Neil Diamond's mother -- how sweet. I always think it's sweet when parents get to watch their kids succeed in the spotlight -- it's so nice to see the pride in their eyes.

Simon's first kiss

Natasha Bedingfield performs "Pocketful of Sunshine." It's OK. I'm not overly impressed, but it's a nice song and she has an interesting voice, I guess.

Ryan plays like he's going to make her go through the judges' critiques, but it was just a joke ... he then continues the joking by asking her if she would go to the prom with David Archuleta. She says she has a dress, so she'd love to go if he asks her, but then Ryan points out that she also has a boyfriend.

So, now we're back to the stupid questions section.

The first question is for the judges -- why is it always Paula who gives the contestants a break? Paula says that somebody has to. She says that she wants to keep the dreams alive because they work so hard and it's so difficult to get into the industry.

Next question is for Paula -- is she going to do any more music videos with Randy? She says they're gonna keep on dancing like there's no tomorrow.

Next question is for Simon -- she says that he always says that performances are forgettable -- so which of these two performances are more memorable: his kiss with Paula Abdul or his first kiss with her at the bottom of his garden when he was 9 years old? He asks her if it's Tara Miller and she says it is ... then they go back and forth until Ryan asks her if he was a good kisser -- she hesitates and then Simon says to bear in mind that he was only 9 years old. Paula then asks Tara if she's over the rabies and she says, yes, that she's had lot of therapy, so she's fine. Simon asks Tara if she still looks cute -- and she says that he has aged very well and that she has, too, so probably. Simon seems really taken aback that she's called and kind of happy to hear from her -- it was quite a human moment for him to be talking to his first kiss, his first real crush. It was kind of cute.

Syesha Mercado and Brooke White in the bottom two

They show a clip of the upcoming season of "So You Think You Can Dance," and I haven't been so excited for something in a very long time. That is by far, the best show on television -- better than "Idol," in my opinion, and I just can't wait for it to start -- the dancers on that show are so amazing -- just breathtaking, really.

So, back to the results ... David Cook is next. Ryan asks him what his reaction is to Paula telling him that she was looking at the next American Idol. He says the first thing he thought about was what Simon said to Carly last week, about it being the kiss of death. Paula says, "Not with me." And David responds, "I hope you're right." Ryan then says, "I've got good news -- she was right." David is safe, so that means that Syesha and Brooke are in the bottom two.

Ryan tells them to come on out. Wait -- are they doing this right now? Ryan is going through the songs they sang and what the judges said ...

Ryan asks Syesha if song choices are tough for her. She says they are, that on rehearsal days, she finds herself not knowing what to sing and since she's not familiar with some of the songs, she doesn't know which is best. Ryan then asks Brooke how she was able to come back for her second song after Simon told her the first song was a nightmare. She says she genuinely had a good time, that she's happy to be there and she just kicked into that happy, grateful mode.

Jason Castro and David Archuleta are safe

They start the show pretty quick tonight, almost immediately going into the group song, which is a tribute to Neil Diamond, this week's mentor. I have to say, it's not one of their best performances -- maybe 5 people is just not enough for a group song, I don't know. But they all seem kind of unsure of the songs and the choreography -- it was a very tentative and cautious kind of performance.

Like every week, they show a clip of last night's performances and then Ryan takes a minute to address Paula's major screw-up last night. He says the rumors are not true (my assumption is that people said she was either drunk or on drugs) and that she is part of their family and they love her.

So on to the results. Jason Castro is up first. Ryan asks him if he knows what Simon meant when he said that he wasn't the Jason they put into the competition. He says he was thinking back and the weeks he got really good comments were weeks when he did songs he already knew, or changed a song and last night, he didn't know any of the songs and he didn't change them. Ryan asks him if he's nervous right now and he says yeah, a little. Ryan stalls for a bit, but then tells him to head to the sofas, that he is safe.

David Archuleta is next and Ryan asks Paula what she meant when she told David that she wants to see him have more fun on stage. She says there's a certain zone you hit when you're a performer and she's seen him hit it many times and she just wants to see that joy. Ryan then asks David if, at this stage, he feels like he's being more careful, more cautious? David says that this week, he just wanted to have fun, that in previous weeks, he had done more mature-sounding sounds, so he wanted to enjoy this week, but that he'll work on it some more. Ryan tells him he's safe and he puts on this really surprised and shocked look, which is kind of strange, because he's never really done that before. I wonder why he's so shocked tonight.